Apparently Paul-white-bread-Ryan has cited Rage Against the Machine as one of his favorite bands which, if we're putting it mildly, pissed off Morello a bit.

"Paul Ryan's love ofÂ Rage Against the MachineÂ is amusing," Morello wrote, "because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades."

Morello essentially accosts Ryan for being part of the 1%--the elite who roll in their wealth as millions of US children go to bed hungry every night. He questions whether Ryan even listens to the lyrics of Rage and if he understands what they're actually singing about--topics that don't quite align with the VP candidate's radical right wing views--or if he just hears the sound.. Â These are a couple of my favorite excerpts from the piece:

"Ryan claims that he likes Rage's sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don't care for Paul Ryan's soundÂ orÂ his lyrics. He can like whatever bands he wants, but his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent is antithetical to the message of Rage."

"Don't mistake me, I clearly see that Ryan has a whole lotta "rage" in him: A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment. Basically the only thing he'sÂ notÂ raging against is the privileged elite he's groveling in front of for campaign contributions."

Oh, shit--get it, Tom.

But this isn't the first time musicians have been pissed about politicians (particularly of the Republican variety, it seems) using their music. Bruce Springstein famously got pissed when Ronald Reagan utilized "Born in the USA" for his re-election campaign; Van Halen...and Jackson Browne...and Heart...and Foo Fighters got krunk on McCain for using their songs; and my boy Tom Petty recently told Michele Bachman to GTFO when she was utilizing (and ergo ruining) "American Girl."

So word to the wise, Ryan: If you're gonna mention your favorite band, you might be better off picking one with less RAGE...